


The Inauspiciousness of the Owl

by lamerezouille



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-05
Updated: 2015-01-05
Packaged: 2018-03-05 13:27:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3121907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamerezouille/pseuds/lamerezouille
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Draco gets woken up by the same owl for the fifth day in a row and for no reason at all. He decides to take action.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Inauspiciousness of the Owl

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AmoretteHD](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmoretteHD/gifts).



> written for amorette’s prompt: “confusion with Owls and letters”.

It’s the fifth day in a row that Draco gets woken up by the same distinctive sound of claw on glass. There still is a dreamy fog occupying his mind, the remnants of a more peaceful night than he’s used to, and he decides not to react right away, and let the _clock clock clock_ ring out a few more minutes. When he finally opens his eyes, turns his head and squints in the direction the sound is coming from, he can confirm that yes, this was definitely the same knock it had been all week. He can confirm this because the bird on the other side of his window is the very same that was there yesterday and the day before, and the day before that one, and before that, too.

Draco can’t even begrudge the owl its incessant knocking. It’s its job after all, and it’s doing it so very politely. Its knocks are numerous and annoying, but also soft and respectful, and it’s definitely not the owl’s fault that Draco nowadays never gets up before nine in the morning.

Besides, this owl must be the best-behaved Draco has ever met. Its hoots are gentle and it always lands delicately on the top of Draco’s bookshelf (without ever leaving any scratch after itself), with an interested yet discreet look on its round face, not demanding any treats or pushing for any answer, but clearly showing its availability if Draco needs it for a return trip.

It would be the perfect owl, really, if only it wasn’t bringing to Draco, day after day, other people’s mail. Also, this owl happens to be Potter’s. And if the bird is a perfect example of good manners, the same clearly cannot be said about its master.

The first day, the letter was actually some sort of rendezvous invitation that Draco had opened by error (the owl had brought it to him, after all) but that had been actually addressed to some uninteresting twat Draco thinks had been a few years behind them at Hogwarts. Draco had not liked detaining this information or having to do something actually contributing to Potter wooing anyone, but he’d chosen to stay polite, and to send back the letter to Potter by return of his owl, with a note apologising for opening the envelope and informing him of the error that had been made.

Draco had honestly thought it would be the end of that.

Except… the owl was back the next day, and it was not with an apology from Potter for his misdirected owl. Instead, it was some random broomstick polish owl-order. Despite his growing annoyance, Draco did send it back to Potter with minimum fuss (but with a shorter note than the previous day).

On the third day, Draco didn’t even check what the letter was, and sent the owl back to Potter immediately, without a note. His colder attitude seemed to upset the owl somehow, and Draco decided that if it came back a fourth time, he would try to be nicer to it. It was not the bird’s fault that its owner was a cretin. Because it was all Potter’s fault, Draco was sure of it.

On the fourth day, Draco welcomed the owl more pleasantly, offered it a dead mouse he had in store for his own Owlery, and groomed it a bit before sending it back with Potter’s letter (a note to Granger) and a Howler of his own. Draco’s sure Potter didn’t even get worried over the two hours and a half during which Draco had kept his owl.

Draco had really thought the Howler would do the trick, but it apparently didn’t, as Potter’s owl is here again, so Draco has decided to take action. He will go to Potter’s house, give him back his letter and his owl in person, as well as a piece of his mind. Never mind that the Howler hadn’t impressed him, Draco’s ire is a hundred times worse.

vvv

‘Malfoy? What are you doing with my owl?’ Potter dares to ask when he opens the door.

‘What I’m…I…’ Draco can’t help but splutter, as taken aback as he is by what looks like genuine puzzlement from Potter.

He quickly pulls himself together, though, locks his jaw and pushes Potter inside his own house so that he can barge in properly. Making a scene on someone’s doorstep is not a done thing, after all.

‘Potter!’ Draco shouts, hoping he’s making it clear how incensed he is. ‘This owl has been bringing me your post for five days straight! And if you think I’m going to sort out your sodding love letters for you, you’re clearly mistaken! Not only did you never reply to my own letters, but have you thought about your owl at all? It’s a majestic magical creature deserving your utmost respect, and it shouldn’t be flying from London to Wiltshire and back for no bloody reason! You should be—’

Draco cuts himself off when he realises what has been happening inside Potter’s house whilst Draco was ranting. Potter’s owl is alternatively pecking at Potter and ruffling its feathers and disordering the kitchen utensils while flying everywhere, making an absolute _nuisance_ of itself.

‘What’s wrong with your owl, Potter?’ Draco asks, before he has time to tone down the outrage in his voice.

Potter doesn’t answer right away, busy as he is trying to stop the bird from completely plunder his kitchen.

‘If only I knew,’ he says finally. The owl has stopped flying around and is back on Potter, its claws gripping at his arm, and to Draco it almost seems like the owl is trying to groom him.

Although Potter does need grooming, for the sake of his hair and the general bleariness of his self, the rest of him looks completely acceptable to Draco’s expert eye. And according to the glimpse of Potter’s backside Draco gets to see while Potter struggles with his owl, he’s in fact much more than acceptable in this particular area.

‘She’s been acting weird all week,’ Potter goes on, as he manages to temporarily protect himself from the owl’s attentions. ‘Took letters from me before I had time to write the address on them, and I don’t think they ever actually reached their destination. It’s been a bloody nightmare!’

‘So I guess it means you haven’t actually received any of my returned post either,’ Draco says tentatively, suddenly not so sure why he was so angry with Potter in the first place. His owl is apparently either murderous, schizophrenic or both, and the bloke certainly can be allowed to catch a break.

‘Well,’ Draco says decisively, taking his decision. ‘Your owl has actually been bringing me all those lost letters of yours. And it behaved exemplarily in my sole company. Perhaps if I were to spend time with you both, it would help remedy the situation.’

Potter seems taken aback, but not unreceptive to the offer.

‘I dare think I would be far better company than the young sod you were attempting to woo in your Monday’s letter.’

‘Oh,’ Potter says, eloquently as ever, while his owl apparently gets to scavenge something from his right ear. ‘I, er. I was actually wanting to meet Evan to break up with him. I had to do it by Floo.’

Draco tries not to let himself be unsettled by how much this pleases him. ‘This is as well,’ he says with as much detachment as he can fake, ‘because my next thought was that there was way fewer risk of your owl stealing away to bring me your mail if I was to actually be here tomorrow morning.’

‘Oh. Do you want to come back, then? Or...’ Potter trails off at Draco’s raised eyebrow, and it only takes a few more seconds for Potter’s brain to catch on to the conversation they’re having. ‘Oh yes, no problem. You can spend the night here, of course,’ he finishes with a grin.

Draco grins too, and doesn’t remark on how Potter’s owl seems suddenly to have significantly quieted down.

Draco doesn’t think of the owl at all for the rest of the day, in fact, and is only reminded of its existence when it emits a soft victorious-sounding hoot that night, when Potter and he decide it’s better for Draco to sleep in Potter’s bed, despite the multiple guest bedrooms available.

(It’s all for the sake of his owl, of course. Or perhaps not.)


End file.
